If people were asked about actor Michael Richards' epithet-laced outburst at a Los Angeles nightclub, there would be a lot of focus on the verbal assault but very little on an assault on freedom of speech. In truth, however, if there's anything at all relating to this story that rises above gossip-column fodder, it’s that it’s also fuel for demagogues who seek control over discourse in America.

Representing the two targets of Mr. Richards’ bile, Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, “civil rights” attorney Gloria Allred appeared on Hannity and Colmes Thanksgiving eve. The stone-faced Allred opened with a very telling assertion, boldly proclaiming, “This is not free speech, this is hate speech!”

This was no spontaneous statement. No, it was well-crafted and calculated and, I believe, designed to serve a far more insidious end than simply extracting money from a goofy comedian. Let’s examine this with the introduction of a subject that on the surface seems unrelated. >--->